Team with Great MatchupsPhillies - @Nationals vsMarlins - Philadelphia takes the third best run scoring team in the MLB to Washington for a 3 game set in which Joe Blanton looks to earn his first win, while Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee look for win #2. The Nats pitching staff has held opposing hitters to a .242 avg(10th in mlb) but have a 4.09 team era. The Phils should take advantage of this huge park and Victorino, Polanco, Howard and Ruiz should each see plenty of extra base hits. A sweep is in order for the Phillies.Phillies win 2 out of 3

Blanton - 6 ip, 7 h, 5 er, 5 k L

Halladay - 9 ip, 6 h, 2 er, 9 k, CG W

Lee - 9 ip, 3 h, 0 er, 12 k, CG W

Victorino - 2 for 12, 2 2b, 2 k, 1 r

Polanco - 5 for 12, 3 rbi, 0 r

Howard - 1 for 10, 1 hr, 1 rbi, 2 r, 3 k

Ruiz - 4 for 11, 2 r, 1 hr, 1 rbi

Philadelphia heads home Friday to host the Florida Marlins. Cliff Lee will look to get back on track after an awful outing in Atlanta that lasted only 3.1 innings, in which he allowed 10 hits and 6 earned runs. The Phils luck out as they will not have to face Josh Johnson and it will be interesting to see how Hanley Ramirez plays this week as he recovers from Bill Hall's take out slide. Philadelphia is batting a league best .334 and we might see that average rise. Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton round out the weekend and the Phils should take 2 out of 3.Phillies and Marlins each win 1 (game 2 was rained out)

Ramirez - 1 for 6, 2 bb

Hamels - 7 ip, 7 h, 2 er, 7 k, ND

Blanton - Pushed back due to rain out

Phillies are still batting a league best, but it has dropped to .296

Team with Tough MatchupsCardinals - @Diamondbacks @ Dodgers - The Cardinals have been a very disappointing team early in 2011. They have only scored 27 runs in the first 9 games, which has lead to just 3 wins. Let's see how quickly Matt Holliday can get it going and if that is the spark that can get Albert Pujols going as well. David Freese needs to step his game up as well, going hit less in 4 of the last 6 match ups. Chris Carpenter's start on Tuesday might be the only win they get in Arizona.Cardinals win 2 out of 3

The Cardinals scored more runs in the 3 game set with the Diamondback(31) than they had scored all season long(27)!

Holliday - 3 for 11, 3 runs, 1 rbi, 6 k

Pujols - 6 for 13, 4 runs, 1 2b, 2 rbi

Freese - 6 for 13, 1 hr, 3 rbi

Carpenter - 4 ip, 8 h, 8 er, 4 k, L

In Los Angeles, the Cards continue this west coast road trip for a 4 game set with the Dodgers. They will face the back end of the rotation(Hiroki Kuroda(2-0, 1.72 era) Jon Garland(2011 debut)) and then potential CY Young winner Clayton Kershaw. While the Dodgers offense is not one of the leagues best, their pitching staff is and could easily shut down St. Louis. Jamie Garcia(2-0, 0.60 era) faces Kuroda and the final score of that game could be 2-1. St. Louis will be lucky to split this series on Sunday as Carpenter faces Billingsly.Cardinals win 3 out of 4

4 comments so far,Add yours

Billingsly is on waivers in an auction league. 10 team league and each team has $100 to spend on waivers for the year. He would be like my 3rd or 4th pitcher. standard 5 stats plus quality starts. How much should I bid for him?

Aaron, I would not go crazy on the spending because it's so early in the season and you might need it later on if one of your guys gets seriously injured. Billingsley is a good pitcher but nothing special. Has a high walk rate which causes him to throw a ton of pitches and thats why he's basically a 6 innings guy.